Abstract

Seven sporadic cases of `seronegative glandular fever' have been examined in detail; five of the patients were adults aged more than 30, two were children. None showed evidence of `incomplete' or heat-labile sheep cell agglutinins, but in three very weak, though otherwise typical, glandular fever agglutinins were detected. Three of the other four showed evidence of certain infections, but these infections probably accounted for no more than a part of each illness.

It is suggested that some, and possibly most, sporadic cases of seronegative glandular fever are of the same disease as seropositive cases, the patients' ages influencing the serological response. Certain conditions of known aetiology may, however, be clinically and haematologically indistinguishable from seronegative glandular fever.